PRISMA Flow Chart.

<p>The flow chart highlights the number of articles found at each stage of the search and the final number of studies that were included in the review; *: the number of studies includes one outlier study; **: four articles reported data for inhibitory control to general stimuli and disease-salient stimuli.</p

Inhibitory Control in Bulimic-Type Eating Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

<div><p>The aim of this meta-analysis was to summarise data from neuropsychological studies on inhibitory control to general and disease-salient (i.e., food/eating, body/shape) stimuli in bulimic-type eating disorders (EDs). A systematic literature search was conducted to identify eligible experimental studies. The outcome measures studied included the performance on established inhibitory control tasks in bulimic-type EDs. Effect sizes (Hedges' <i>g</i>) were pooled using random-effects models. For inhibitory control to general stimuli, 24 studies were included with a total of 563 bulimic-type ED patients: 439 had bulimia nervosa (BN), 42 had anorexia nervosa of the binge/purge subtype (AN-b), and 82 had binge eating disorder (BED). With respect to inhibitory control to disease-salient stimuli, 12 studies were included, representing a total of 218 BN patients. A meta-analysis of these studies showed decreased inhibitory control to general stimuli in bulimic-type EDs (<i>g</i> = −0.32). Subgroup analysis revealed impairments with a large effect in the AN-b group (<i>g</i> = −0.91), impairments with a small effect in the BN group (<i>g</i> = −0.26), and a non-significant effect in the BED group (<i>g</i> = −0.16). Greater impairments in inhibitory control were observed in BN patients when confronted with disease-salient stimuli (food/eating: <i>g</i> = −0.67; body/shape: <i>g</i> = −0.61). In conclusion, bulimic-type EDs showed impairments in inhibitory control to general stimuli with a small effect size. There was a significantly larger impairment in inhibitory control to disease salient stimuli observed in BN patients, constituting a medium effect size.</p></div

Description of studies on disease-related inhibitory control in bulimic-type eating disorders.

<p>BN: bulimia nervosa; BED: binge eating disorder; AN-b: anorexia nervosa of the binge/purge subtype; HC: healthy controls; BMI: body mass index;</p><p>^# : ideal body weight (percentage);</p><p>ns: no significant difference between patients and healthy controls;</p><p>significant group difference;</p><p>NR: not reported; RT: reaction time.</p

Forest plot for studies on inhibitory control to general stimuli in bulimic-type eating disorders.

<p><b>▪</b>: bulimia nervosa; <b>▪ with frame</b>: binge eating disorder; <b>□</b> anorexia nervosa from the binge/purge subtype; CI95: 95% confidence interval; W %: relative weight (percentage); Favours A/B: lower/higher inhibitory control in bulimic-type EDs than in controls.</p

Moderator analysis of studies on general inhibitory control in bulimic-type eating disorders.

<p>CI₉₅: 95% confidence interval, SE: standard error; BN: bulimia nervosa; BED: binge eating disorder; AN-b: anorexia nervosa from the binge/purge subtype; SST: Stop Signal Task; MFFT: Matching Familiar Figure Test; HSCT: Hayling Sentence Completion Test; SSIT: Simon Spatial Incompatibility Task; ELF: Excluded Letter Fluency test.</p

Moderator analysis of studies on inhibitory control to disease-salient stimuli in BN patients.

<p>CI₉₅: 95% confidence interval, SE: standard error; BN: bulimia nervosa.</p

Description of studies on general inhibitory control in bulimic-type eating disorders.

<p>BN: bulimia nervosa; BED: binge eating disorder; AN-b: anorexia nervosa from the binge/purge subtype; HC: healthy controls; BMI: body mass index;</p><p>^# : ideal body weight (percentage);</p><p>ns: no significant difference between patients and healthy controls;</p><p>significant group difference; NR: not reported; SSRT: stop signal reaction time; MFFT: Matching Familiar Figure Test; HSCT: Hayling Sentence Completion Test; ELF: Excluded Letter Fluency test; SSIT: Simon Spatial Incompatibility Task; RT: reaction time.</p